The Legend of Zelda: The Imprisoning War
by Malibu-702
Summary: A NonCanon story about after the events of Ocarina of Time, about Link's journey to find his lost fairy Navi, his struggles of love and the two girls he loves, and a struggle to save Hyrule from a devastating magic and the wizard that commands it.
1. Chapter 1

**THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: THE IMPRISONING WAR  
**Written by: Malibu  
check out my myspace (url is bu702)  
Based on the story and characters of Shigeru Miyamoto

"Your wish will be granted…your every desire can be yours…Now, touch it with a wish in your heart…"

"But…what about Zelda? I…can't…"

"…"

Link awoke from his peculiar dream with a strange stiffness in his legs, a throbbing pain in his side, and a strange sense of deja-vu. He rose from his bed, picking the straw that came from his pillow out of his hair. He looked at his hands, and then he remembered. He saw the triforce mark on the back of his left hand, shining up at him in a gold, iridescent glow.

He stood up, wincing as every joint in his body popped, as if he'd pumped a gallon of air into them. He stretched his arms behind his back, and let out a huge yawn, allowing his jaw to also pop. He then looked around, wondering if Navi had possibly heard Link's awakening. But when he looked around, the familiar glow wasn't there. Navi was gone.

"Oh, yeah," Link said softly. "Navi…" His head drooped as he remembered that Navi left him. She _had_ to. He wasn't even a Kokiri, was he? Link couldn't remember. So many thoughts swirled like wind through the deep canyons of his mind that he didn't know for certain where he was, or what he had just done, or what he should do now. Finally, he grabbed his green vest and threw his arms through the holes. He picked up his hat and the ocarina of time fell out of it. He then broke down like a Pinto, crying in agony more over the emotions he'd held in than anything else. Sure, he'd saved the world, but he had been torn from his bed and into a life-threatening quest he'd never even known he was in. Sure, he got to see the world and meet the princess, but he'd found out he was a Hylian and not a Kokiri, and his new fairy had to leave him, and he'd been thrust through time over and over again, and it finally caught up to him. Sobbing, he wiped tears from his face, and knelt to pick up his ocarina. He then remembered Zelda giving it to him, the night he'd opened the Door of Time to begin his trip to the future. Since then, he'd always thought of it as some sort of link to the past.

His frown quickly turned to a smile as he then took up his sword and shield, and buckled them to his back. Link armed himself with everything he owned, including his bow and quiver, his boomerang, and his wallet. After he was ready to depart, he pulled the curtain door aside, letting the light flood his treehouse. He squinted slightly while his eyes adjusted, as he took a deep breath of the forest air. He then wiped the mask of sweat and tears off his face with the back of his hand. And that's when he remembered.

"Damn!" Link groaned, as he tore the sword and shield off of his back, and hurled them into the corner of the room. "I need to stop doin' that!" He'd been "doing that" ever since the adventure of Link had ended. See, while he was out, he'd done the same morning routine every single day. He rose from bed, stretched, woke up Navi, and dressed to leave. But, now that the journey had ended, he still did that routine.

Link reemerged from the treehouse and then took two quick hops in place. He then swallowed hard, and took a huge, deep breath.

"Okay, this time I'm gonna do it! Let's go!"

Link suddenly and quickly leapt off of the treehouse balcony, jumping over the ladder, cartwheeling into the air, and finally landing perfectly at the foot of the ladder. His wallet had come loose during the acrobatic leap, and it smacked the ground beside him.

"Yeah! I finally did it!" Link cried, "A perfect landing!"

He bent over to pick up his wallet, and he let out a tremendous Bronx cheer. Link giggled at the juvenile sound. "Now _that_ was a wind waker!"

Shaking his head in bewilderment, Link began to jog slowly towards the main square of the Kokiri forest, looking for his best friend, Saria. Instead, all he could find was his old rival, Mido. He was sitting on a stump, and Link could see that he was whittling a stick with a pocketknife.

"Uh, hey, Mido! What's up?"

Mido didn't look up; he kept whittling.

"Uh, Mido? What's wrong?"

Mido then took the pocketknife and threw it into the dirt, and it stuck there like some sort of crooked post. He then held the stick out to Link like a sword. "What d'ya want, kid?"

Link let out a laugh, but it came out uninspired, and very nervous. "I, uh…I was just wonderin', if…ya' know…"

Mido picked the knife back up, and resumed carving the stick. "Ya, I know. You want to see Saria, huh?"

"Um, hey, you guessed it!"

"She's at the forest temple, Link," Mido said softly. "Prayin' to some oracle of ages or somethin'."

Link held up a finger, but Mido continued, "Or maybe it was an oracle of _seasons_…"

"So, Mido," Link said, crouching next to the log Mido sat on, "what'cha carvin'?"

"A sword. I'm making four of them."

Link laughed. "Four swords, eh?"

"Yeah." Mido stood up, grunting as he did so. Link saw that he was now taller than Mido was, and he wondered if he had noticed it at all. "Why don't you go find Saria, huh?"

Link nodded. "No prob, Mido. Catch 'ya later." Mido didn't acknowledge this; he kept whittling his sword. Link turned towards the Lost Woods, thinking to himself that without his sword and shield, he'd have to evade the deku scrubs unarmed, as Saria did. Except Saria had that charm that the wild animals respected, and all Link had was deku nuts, a wallet with 24 rupees, and an ocarina. Link silently reprimanded himself for not taking it after all.

Soon, he entered the woods, and he began to make his way through the thicket of trees, following the path Saria had taught to him long ago. At least, in Link's mind. Link remembered coming through here before, trying to reach the temple. As an adult, it was easy to push through the forest, which had died off without the Great Deku Tree. Of course, that hadn't happened yet. That was in the future, or was it? It didn't matter, really. Link then noticed the reason it seemed so hard to navigate the woods. He didn't have Navi with him, and it was too dark to see. He hated not having her brilliant luminosity helping him to navigate the woods. Suddenly, he missed Navi very much.

Link entered the clearing of the Sacred Forest Temple after a short five minute hike. He leapt onto a small ledge nearby the opening to the woods, and then hiked up to an even higher, wider cliff, and Link was now almost 30 feet in the air. Above the meadow, he could see deku scrubs, waiting to shoot the first imprudent person who went in unarmed and oblivious to their looming danger. Link remembered being struck by the very hard nut of a deku scrub, and the massive, purple contusion he'd had on his chest for weeks afterwards. As he trudged on, Link saw pixies glide lazily by, and he felt a sudden twinge of sorrow in his heart. "Navi," Link cried, unaware that he had spoken out loud. "Where are you?"

After approximately fifteen minutes of this seemingly eternal hiking, Link reached the rather long gorge that connected the meadow and the temple. Silently, he crept along a small, rocky outcropping of only about two or three inches, praying that it wouldn't buckle under his weight, not only because he was over twenty feet in the air, but also the threat of deku scrubs and moblins below. Without his shield, he would be a sitting duck, and he'd surely get pelted to death. This didn't matter in the end, however, as he made it, rather easily to boot, and he finally reached the huge, majestic marble staircase that took him to the actual meadow the temple was inside of. He leapt from the ledge and onto the stairway, creating a loud, resonant echo from his boots landing on top of the stone. He admired the beauty of the stairs as he ascended them, and he again thought of Navi, and how her radiant glow had replicated off the stone like a broken mirror when they were here last.

As he reached the top, he immediately was overwhelmed by the brilliance of the sun, coming through the opening in the treetops that made the meadow. The huge granite pillars of the temple, old and devastated by age and years of humid air, stood like sentinels in the otherwise empty clearing. They were swathed in vines and plants, and looked like huge, stone giants, or some sort of primitive folk, dressed in a shroud of green. He saw hundreds of fireflies, fairies, and other things flitting nonchalantly through the mild summer air. Link felt like playing his ocarina, but figured he could do that when he found Saria, so he stopped. Maybe, she could play alongside him, with his old fairy ocarina. They could make a new song, and play a duet, like they used to. Before.

Suddenly, Link froze. A shadow was visible, however so slightly, from behind a log's shadow. He realized that this was probably an enemy ambush! Thinking fast, he quickly reached for his sword and grasped nothing but air, and he hated himself even more for leaving it behind. As sweat began to form a transparent veil on his brow, he quickly leapt up and onto the stone ledge of the temple entrance, and he pulled himself up on top of it. He would get this attacker at his own game. He crawled into position to attack, and prepared to leap down onto his adversary, where he could end it in one or two blows. The creature was eating something! Link imagined that it was some sort of hapless forest creature being gobbled up as an appetizer for him, the main course!

Just then, the ambusher unexpectedly rose to their feet. Link saw an opening, and leapt into the air.

As Saria stood up, she turned to see a figure in midair, about to strike her!

Link saw her, and quickly yelled, "Move!"

"No!"

He smacked the dirt floor with a sickening thud, and he felt the air quickly rush out of his lungs, as if they were balloons with the ends untied, and someone decided to stomp on them.

Saria knelt next to her would-be attacker, and couldn't help but let out a laugh. "Link, what in the world were you doing? You could've hurt someone!"

Link groaned, and rolled onto his back, holding his midriff with both arms. "I…th…thought that…you…"

Saria smiled at him, and he cocked a half smile back, tears rolling out of his eyes. "At…least…"  
She placed a finger over his lips, and slowly shushed him. He stopped groaning, and got halfway to his knees. He spat, and saw no blood, so he knew he was okay, at least. When he'd fought Ganon, and was hit by his staff, and knocked into a stone pillar, he spat soon afterwards and it was pure blood. It was some sort of internal bleeding or something, and a few broken ribs, also. If not for Zelda's healing abilities, he might have died.

Saria helped Link to his feet, and walked him over to a log nearby. She had a whole picnic lunch there, including a heaping wooden bucket full of crystal-clear water. "Here, Link. Have a drink of water." She smiled at him. "It'll help you out, all right?"

Link shrugged. "It's worth a shot, I guess." He drank it, and suddenly, the throbbing pain was gone. He felt fine. "What in the heck?" He gaped at Saria, overwhelmed. "What…what _is_ that?"

"The water of life, silly! It is a special water found in this glade. It restores your vitality if you're sick, hurt, or parched. It's the purest water in Hyrule!"

Link remembered hearing the potion shop lady in Kakariko Village saying something about her needing the Water of Life to create the ultimate potion, or something. He then looked at Saria, and Saria looked back.

She began to laugh. "You…look so mature when you smile like that."

"And is that a compliment?"

"Maybe it is, but I'm wondering why you were up on that overhang?" Link's face went beet red, and he leaned back. "I, uh, well…you know how it is, right? I mean, um…I was…just trying to see you from…a different…angle?"

Saria shook her head, and reached into a picnic basket next to the log. She pulled out an apple and offered it to Link, which he declined, and she then took a bite out of it. "One thing about you, Link. You're a horrible liar. So it's a good thing you're always so honest."

"I'm sorry I lied, Saria." He wiped a tear from his eye, and let out a laugh. "Truth is, I thought you were-"

"I don't need to know why. I'll always trust you, Link."

Link felt the irresistible urge to show his feelings to her, that he loved her, but he wasn't sure if that it was even possible to love her. He was a Hylian, and she was a Kokiri. It _was_ impossible, but…

"And I you, Saria."

All of a sudden, the sky went dark above their heads. Saria rose to her feet, and dropped the apple to the ground. As she did this, an extremely cold breeze shot through the glade, and Link also stood up, frightened.

"Link!" Saria cried. "I'm scared!" She quickly grabbed Link's hand.

"Yeah," Link said, nodding his head in agreement. "Me, too." Link remembered hearing Saria tell him once that the Sacred Forest Meadow always was warm, and the sky was always clear. There had never been a cloud above, and it had never been this freezing, either.

Saria squeezed Link's hand. "There's something wrong." Link explained. "That's the only possible reason." The fairies and fireflies began dropping to the floor, and Saria let out a cry. The sky was very dark now, and it was now extremely cold. Goosebumps broke out on both of Link's arms, and when he looked at Saria's, she had them, also.

Link quickly picked up the basket, and began to head towards the forest, leading Saria along. "We need to head back now!" he exclaimed, rushing down the stairway. "It's too cold! It might rain!" As he spoke, steam from his breath rose into the cool air, and Saria, who'd never seen that in her life, let out a cry of terror. As she did, her own breath made the same steam that caused her scared reaction.

Saria began to cry. "I don't understand…" All of a sudden, she pulled from Link. "Wait! Our ocarinas!" She dashed back up the stairs, and Link turned to stop her. As he did, his foot slipped off the stair, and he fell to the stone, smashing his chin against the stair. Saria quickly returned, carrying both of their ocarinas, and helped Link to his feet. He turned his head and spat, and it was pure blood. Then, they began to sprint madly into the maze of trees and cliffs. Luckily for them, the deku scrubs were long gone, scared off by the cold air. As they ran, the skies suddenly opened up, and a mix of rain, snow, and hail began to fall upon them. Saria began to scream, and Link took his vest off and threw it around her shoulders, covering her head to protect her from the falling chunks of ice. He immediately regretted it, as the cold air penetrated his brown undershirt like it was mesh and the ice smashed into his head like bullets. He began to shiver uncontrollably as the rain turned to a blizzard, and snow whirled all around them. They continued to run as fast as they could to the safe covering of the Lost Woods.

As they reached the opening to the woods, the snow was up to a few inches off the ground. They continued to run, pushing through the trees, and Link suddenly thought once again of Navi. If she was out there in that storm, she wasn't safe. It didn't matter, because they still had a ways to go, and it was getting even more freezing. It was about 15 degrees by the time they came out from the trees, and into Kokiri forest. Even though there was a clearing in the trees, the snow wasn't too bad here yet, but it was enough that the entire village was now a transparent shade of white. Link and Saria both sprinted towards Link's treehouse, which was the only house in the village with a fireplace. They quickly ascended the ladder, and went into the house. Then, Link grabbed his Hyrulean Shield off of the wall, and fitted it into the doorway, which he had rebuilt so that he could use his shield as a barrier. It was more or less a fear thing, due to his nightmares, but it worked great in this situation.

Saria sat on Link's bed, trying to catch her breath, as Link quickly started a fire. Saria's fairy floated out from under Link's vest and began to hover above her as she sat there, panting. Finally, Link got the fire going, and then he opened vents on the front and back sides of the house, and another in the roof. Next, he grabbed a few blankets, and replaced his vest with them on Saria's shoulders. He'd bought them in the Hyrule Castle bazaar for 25 rupees a pop, and he'd bought three of them, but never used them until now. No reason to.

For what seemed like an eternity, they sat there, warming back up, as the snow finally began to fall at an alarming rate outside, which Saria examined with fearful inquisitiveness. The only sounds were the crackle of the fire and the swirling howl of the wind outside. Link did remember this happening to him once on Death Mountain, when he was in the future as an adult. While hiking up the mountain, a sudden flash of cold air and then a gigantic blizzard forced him into Goron City for the better part of a day. In this case, he also had Saria to worry about, but she would be fine in here, as long as the snow stopped before too long.

As the time slowly passed by, and the blizzard showed no signs of finishing, the conversation was minimal between Saria and Link. Link's thoughts kept drifting to poor Navi, who was somewhere out there, and probably dying. Saria just sat on his bed, watching the endless white so thick it was like a fog.

Suddenly, Link leapt to his feet. "Oh, that's it!" He reached down and took his ocarina from the wood floor. "I'm so stupid! I could've stopped this!" He took the ocarina to his lips as Saria's face brightened. "Link! You're a genius!"

He began to play the Song of Storms.

As he played, and each enchanting note rose into the air of the small house, Saria watched Link with a passion for the song he was playing, although she had never heard it before. Each note floated pleasantly into their pointed ears, and ended sharply and cleanly. Finally, Link ended, and the pair became absolutely still. They both listened for the sound of wind.

There was none.

Link stood up, a smile on his face. He removed the shield from the doorway, and gazed out into a calm air. Saria then leapt from the bed, and into Link's arms. They began to dance and laugh, happy for stopping the dreadful storm.

Until Saria's fairy got their attention. They both went outside to see what was wrong, and both of them let out a gasp.

The snow was a foot below the ladder's top.

Hesitantly, Link crept out into the snow, sinking to his knees, he looked for any sign of a house not under the snow, but he saw none. "They're trapped in there!" Saria cried, and they both trudged into the white sea. As they did, they had absolutely no idea on how to save them. It was foolish for them to think they could dig them out bare handed.

Saria turned to Link. "Do you have any bombs?"

"Yeah. I have two. That wouldn't do us any good."

Saria moaned. "I guess you're right."

But then, he brightened. "The Sun's Song! The Sun's Song might work! If I alter the song a little, it may make the sun

break through a little bit. Maybe! Maybe we can melt the snow!"

Saria shrugged a nonchalant shrug. "It's worth a try, I guess."

Link began to play the Sun's Song. Again, as he played, Saria had a strange look in her eyes, one of admiration and pride that it was her best friend making these absolutely beautiful notes. As he continued, the sun began to move overhead, and suddenly, Saria felt a bit warmer.

And warmer.

Link replaced his ocarina, and notices that the air was warming back to the normal, mild temperature of the Kokiri forest. The snow began to melt, slow at first, but then it rapidly began to melt. Seconds after he finished the song, the snow was already backing down halfway to the ground. And less than a minute later, the snow was completely gone. The air was a bit humid, but otherwise, the forest was saved. Again, Saria and Link held each other, but this time tears were in both of their eyes. This was a joyous victory for them.

Saria looked at Link, who was smiling. "Do you think that the Forest Meadow is fixed, too?" He nodded, and she beamed. "But, I don't understand why the weather changed that quickly."

"I don't get it, either. Especially it being a summer month in Hyrule. It's not snowing anywhere, at least here."

"What about the rest of Hyrule?"  
Link stared off, in deep thought, at this sudden, shocking development. "If Zelda was in trouble, she could call me, couldn't she?" But was Link that sure? Why wouldn't she have called when he was out, on his last adventure?

Saria stood up from the log, which was still damp from the snow. She pointed to the opening in the trees. "You should go check on her, Link. She could be in trouble." Link nodded, and quickly rose from the log. He ran to his house, and armed himself with everything he used on his journey. Then he slid back down the ladder, and returned to Saria, who was back on the log. "I'm gonna go find her, 'kay?" He looked into her eyes, and she stood up. Then, she hugged him, and he hugged her back, surprised that she did so.

When they separated, he had a tear in his eye, and Saria _did _realize that she cared about him, but she felt the urge to tell him so disappear when she thought about how he'd changed lately. He'd grown up a little, and was now taller than her. She didn't know if Link noticed it, but she had a hunch that he wasn't truly a Kokiri.

Link turned away, and began to run towards the trees. He pushed through the narrow path and soon emerged on the bridge leading out into the Hyrule Field. He stopped, remembering that this was the spot he and Saria had parted before he left the forest for the first time. She had given him her ocarina, and they had parted. He felt a sense of nostalgia, and missed the times before, when he felt a part of them, and felt he could be their friends, but now he thought that he was an outsider. Unbeknownst to Link, the Kokiri _had_ been gossiping about him, saying that he was acting extremely strange and almost afraid to talk to them.

Link continued through the trees and emerged into the Hyrule Field. Just as it did every time he left the forest, the sunlight burned into his eyes, and he held an arm up, squinting through the light. But, unlike that first time, he quickly adjusted to it, and he continued, trying to blink the purple spots in his eyes away. The grass spread all over the horizon, as far as you could see. He drew his sword, and then noticed that the field wasn't affected like the forest was. The weather was warm, the sky was clear. He thought that maybe some sort of freak storm had coincidentally passed over the forest. But that was impossible, considering that they were in the midst of the hottest month of the year. The logic for it happening wasn't there, and Link finally gave up trying to think, groaning at the mild headache that the problem had presented to him.

As he walked, he could smell the sweet scent of pollen and grass in the summertime, and he let the sunshine beam down on his skin, warming it pleasantly. The only thing messing up this beautiful summertime picture was a gigantic cloud over Kakariko Village. Link stopped walking and stared at this titanic mass hovering over the beautiful town, obscuring the view of Death Mountain. It seemed like it was about to let loose a ton of rain upon the quaint town.

Later that day, as Link was about two-thirds the way to the castle, he could see the Lon Lon Ranch looming on the horizon to his left. Unlike the other places, this seemed unaffected by the latest strange events happening all over Hyrule. He remembered when he and Navi had met Malon in the Hyrule Castle Market, and she had called him "fairy boy". He also thought of how beautiful she had been when he'd gone into the future and helped her save the ranch from Ingo.

Link's thoughts turned towards Saria, and he then began to fear that he'd left Saria alone unwisely. He felt that, for some strange reason, she was in danger, but he was already almost to the castle, and he concluded that Saria wasn't in trouble; it made no sense.

Unbeknownst to Link, he had bigger problems than Saria's safety to worry about.


	2. Chapter 2

**THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: THE IMPRISONING WAR  
**Written by: James Stephens

Based on the story and characters of Shigeru Miyamoto

"Impa!"

Rising to her feet after getting hit in the head by a plank of wood, Impa then jumped towards Zelda, trying to get her out of the way of falling debris. Wood and bricks were falling everywhere, and it was only a matter of time before they were hit.

"Zelda, keep your head down! We have to get out of here!"

"Yes, maam." As a violent earthquake shook the Earth all around them, Zelda tucked her head under Impa's hand, and the pair began to run. As they ran, the walls of the castle were falling all around them. Impa was trying to get Zelda out of the tower and at least to a place where the debris wouldn't have a chance to do any damage.

Finally, they reached the staircase. Impa grabbed Zelda and they leapt down four stairs at a time, until they reached the next floor down. By this time, the walls were so damaged from the quake that Zelda could see through them. Looking out of a huge hole, she saw the Hyrule Castle Market. The entire square was being ravaged, and fires were burning out of control.

It felt like forever, but she only saw it for a few seconds as Impa lost her balance due to the endless shaking, and finally regained it. They finally reached the ground level of the tower, but as they sprinted to the main doors, a problem arose.

"Oh, no!" Zelda shrieked. "Impa! The door is blocked!"

Impa didn't respond, because she didn't have the time to waste speaking of the obvious. She found the door to the garden was still open. The pair ran out into the garden, but an unexpected fire burned out of control here. Impa quickly racked her brain, and then simply turned back, unable to think of a solution. She finally ran to a window, and knelt down beside it. Zelda, however, didn't budge.

"C'mon, princess!" she cried. "Get out! There isn't any time to waste!"

"No!" Zelda screamed, and she took a step back. "I can't leave you here!"

Impa stood up and grabbed Zelda by the arm. She began to struggle, trying to break Impa's iron grip, but to no avail. Impa then dragged her over to the window, picked her up, and tossed her out. As Zelda fell out of the window, her nightgown caught on the broken plate glass, ripping it to shreds. Her scream was shrill enough to break crystal and loud enough to wake the dead, until it was cut off by the splash of her hitting the water. Now, unbeknownst to Impa, Princess Zelda was still unable to swim. She began to struggle in the water, trying to get to the shoreline. Not helping the cause was her torn nightgown, which floated all around her, and tied her up like a net.

Back in the castle, Impa tried to squeeze through the tiny window, but realized that she wouldn't be able to get far enough outside to avoid hitting a stone ledge below, and this could cause her a fatal injury. So she aborted, and she turned back to the doorway. In a panicked haste to get out, she began to grab stones, trying to lift enough to get out. The fires spread throughout the main hall, and falling wood was only helping to worsen the blaze. To make matters even worse, the quake, which had been shaking for almost two minutes, hadn't stopped. Finally, she resorted to trying her luck with the window. No other way to escape.

Impa squeezed through a fire which had began between the main door and the aforementioned window. Her skin was charred slightly, but she hadn't even noticed. As an old lady, the scars from this fire would beam out on her face like a tattoo. She squeezed through the window, and just then, the entire roof of the main hall fell, as three stories of wood and stone fell through it. Impa was lucky enough to only have one leg still inside the tower. This leg was hit by stones, bricks, and boards, and she felt it snap not once, not twice, but three times in the same part. She also felt the weight of a brick pop her left knee out of place. She would never walk the same again. She let out a primitive howl of pain, and she clawed her way through the window, and using her right leg, pistoned herself through the opening. She then tumbled end over end into the water, almost landing on top of the drowning Zelda.

Just then, a large boom was heard at the guard gate. It sounded like a TNT bomb. Impa recognized the sound as a Goron-made bomb. She knew that it was someone coming to help. Zelda sank under the water at that moment, and her nightgown didn't follow her. With her last ounce of strength, Impa grabbed the drowning Zelda, and using only one leg, side-swam towards the drawbridge, which had fallen during the quake. She threw Zelda onto the bridge, where she lay, naked, coughing out a lot of water. Zelda didn't move, and Impa finally grabbed onto the bridge before the pain caused her to black out.

Finally, after almost three minutes of shaking, the earthquake ended. Zelda slowly rose to her hands and knees, struggling to catch her breath. She opened and closed her eyes, and realized that Impa wasn't next to her. She then rose to her feet, wobbling back and forth, until she saw Impa, floating in the water face down. A lot of blood was coming out of an open gash in her left leg. Zelda tried to get her bearings straight, but she was having a lot of trouble even staying on her feet. She began to cry, not only in pain but in frustration at her nurse's critical condition.

Plus, it had gotten strangely cold, and she was naked and soaking wet.

"Don't worry, Zelda." A voice spoke behind her, and she recognized it from somewhere. "I'll take care of this."

Zelda turned to see a boy dressed in a green vest and an elfin hat. She looked into his blue eyes and got a very strange feeling of deja-vu. She _knew_ this boy from somewhere; she was sure of it. He took out a musical instrument. Zelda's eyes grew huge at the sight of this instrument. She then remembered that she was naked, and screamed out loud. She leapt into the water, uncaring about the cold, and snatched her shredded nightgown. She slipped it back on the best she could, and climbed back out of the water, shivering. The gown didn't do too well for the ten-year-old Princess; the top was torn beyond recognition, exposing most of her left breast, or lack of one at that age, and most of both of her legs.

"Is that the Ocarina?" she asked, shivering. _"The_ Ocarina of Time?"

The boy began to play a song, and suddenly, it began to rain. The storm quickly began to extinguish all of the fires in the castle, and as Zelda could see, the smoke in the Square was gone, also. When he saw that the fires were mostly out, he then switch songs and played a different song, and the sun began to pour through the clouds, quickly warming Zelda's freezing body. When he finished, he replaced the ocarina, and then looked into the water.

"Impa!"

Zelda took a step towards the boy. "Do I…know you?"

The boy dashed past her, and leapt into the water. Quickly, he picked up Impa, and pushed her onto the broken drawbridge. Then, he pulled himself out of the moat and onto the bridge. Thinking fast, he unsnapped Impa's breastplate, giving him access to her stomach. Then, doing a trick that he'd seen by one of the Kokiri boys, he pushed on her midriff, about an inch or two below her breasts. Then, he picked her head up and began to blow air into her mouth. He repeated the process, and Zelda watched him, fascinated

"Can you help her?"

He didn't look up, he just kept doing it. Zelda nodded in silent understanding. The boy did one more push on her midriff, and finally, Impa coughed up a huge geyser of water. It flew all over the boy's face, yet he paid little attention to it. He lifted Impa's body, and began smacking her on the back, just below the neck. Impa began to cough, and finally, she began to breathe normally, although she was still unconscious.

Zelda jumped towards the boy, and to his surprise, he caught her. She gave him a kiss on his cheek. "Thank you, so very much!" She was beginning to cry, and the boy reached up. He wiped a tear from her cheek, and nodded. "Of course! You knew I'd do it for you, as well."

Zelda looked at him strangely. "Wait a second. I know you from someplace, do I not?"

The boy nodded. "Yeah, ya do. It's too bad you don't remember me." He sat down on the grass, and Zelda stared at him. "I believe Impa could tell you more of myself, when she awakens, but my name is Link." She held out her hand to shake his, but he didn't extend it out. "We need to get to shelter," he said, a serious expression on his face as he stood up. "Is there anywhere we could go?" She saw he was blushing and realized he could see her exposed breasts. She squealed again, but he quickly took off his jerkin and handed it to her, and she threw it over herself.

"Thank you," she said with a sigh, her entire face beet red. She then turned to look at her home.

She shook her head. "The entire castle was destroyed." She began to wonder if her father made it out okay…

"Wait a second! I know!" The boy rose to his feet, and he scooped up Impa. Then, he began to run towards the gate. "Follow me, Zelda!" She did, and they ran to a small enclave. Zelda remembered seeing this, but at the end of it was only a boulder. Not any shelter.

He placed Impa on the grass, and then went over to the boulder. He then reached into his bag and pulled out a blue orb, and then he lit it. _'Wait a second,'_ Zelda thought, _'what did he just light?'_ Link then came running back to her, and knelt before her. He took out his shield and held it out, and then a boom rang out, knocking Zelda backwards, to the ground. She got back up to her feet and looked inside. She quickly realized that that boom was the same type that she'd heard earlier.

"What in the world?" she said, fascinated.

Link ran back to Impa, and picked her limp body up and threw it over his shoulder, and ran inside of a cave the blast revealed. "Follow me," he said, and she obeyed. They ran inside, and at the end of a small walkway was a gigantic fountain!

Zelda looked all around her. She couldn't believe her eyes! The beauty of the water, and the light from the cave opening, created a prism of light that shone all around them. She almost cried at this awe-inspiring sight. At the end of the cave was a platform with a golden triangle on the floor, with another triangle inside of it, upside-down, which was the same stone the platform was. It was in theory, three golden triangles put together to make one larger one.

Zelda instantly recognized the shape. Without saying anything, Link stepped onto the triforce symbol, and took out the ocarina. And, he began to play a tune that shocked the hell out of Zelda.

She began to freak out. "How in the world do you know that tune?" she demanded. However, he kept playing, ignoring her demand. As Link finished playing, the symbol began to glow, and Zelda took a step backwards. And, suddenly, a figure came out of the fountain, laughing manically.

Zelda's eyes became humongous orbs of shock. Her jaw fell to her chest. "Who… who…" she stammered, unable to speak.

The figure was of a strange lady, clad in ivy all over her body as to cover her private areas, and she had shimmering red hair floating all around her body, which was floating a few feet above the glittering water fountain. The lady let out another laugh, and Zelda looked at Link, who was smiling immensely.

"Hello, Hero of Time!" the floating lady said in a loud, echoing voice, and Link smiled. Zelda stared at Link with a gaping hole where her mouth was supposed to be.

"I need your help, Ms. Fairy," Link said in a loud voice, paying no attention to Zelda as he stood at attention in the center of the triforce symbol. "Our friend Impa, she is badly hurt, and I was hoping you would let me take some of the water of life to her."

The fairy smiled softly at Link's request and nodded. "It will be so," she said with a giggle, and Link held out an empty bottle to the floating fairy. It began to slowly flutter up towards her and then began to glow in a bright blue sheen, blinding Zelda temporarily. It glowed like that for what seemed like forever, and when that finally subsided, the bottle was filled with a glittering blue liquid that sparkled like a sapphire. Zelda was in awe; she couldn't take her eyes off the water in Link's bottle.

"Thank you!" he said enthusiastically, and he took the bottle and quickly began to run back to Impa at the entrance of the chamber, leaving Zelda in shock in front of the fairy. The fairy looked at the young girl with a surprised expression.

"Who are you?" Zelda asked the fairy, but instead of a response, the fairy let out a loud laugh and disappeared into the fountain, leaving Zelda even _more _shocked and confused then she had been before Link had played her lullaby.

And just _how _did he learn that song? Was it even possible?

She turned to leave the cave only to see Link standing there, a huge smile on his face, and standing next to him was Impa, albeit her clothing tattered, burnt, and torn, but not only was she okay, she was smiling as well.

Zelda couldn't speak. She just stared, her mouth gaping wide open. "I... you... how... in the _heck_?"

"I will explain on the way," Impa said softly, "but for now, we need to return to Kakariko Village. I must recover the Mask of Truth. The three began to walk out of the castle and Zelda, still clad in Link's green jerkin, looked back sadly, as this was the first time she had ever left the castle before, and she could only wonder if her father was okay.

She would have bigger things to worry about soon enough. _Much _bigger things...


End file.
